heh, well another reason i'm curiuos is because i'm seeing games in this thread like resident evil, and GTA4

they may look great, but in terms of "being great" they fall short. IMO and based off gaming history, great games are the ones that inspire a new generation of entertainment or defined a new genre

then again, its a thread based on opinion which is why i'm not as argumentative as i could be

Well said!..it is based on opinion, the younger ones are going to pic those type of games ..but those who gamed awhile know about the Super Mario Bros and Baseball Stars NES while the younger ones don't.

1. Tetris (GB, DS)
2. Super Mario Bros. (NES)
3. Pong (I never play the original one, but I always enjoy it as mini games in other games)
4. Final Fantasy series (especially VI; SNES)
5. Street Fighter 2 (Arcade)

heh, well another reason i'm curiuos is because i'm seeing games in this thread like resident evil, and GTA4

they may look great, but in terms of "being great" they fall short. IMO and based off gaming history, great games are the ones that inspire a new generation of entertainment or defined a new genre

then again, its a thread based on opinion which is why i'm not as argumentative as i could be

I think you could argue both of those games as being pretty genre defining. Maybe not GTA4 as much as it's prequels (I liked Vice City myself). But both of those games brought an atmosphere that hadn't really been seen up to then.
I'm 31, and go back to the Atari 2600, but just can't bring myself to mention any of my favorites from that. Defender or Pitfall. I did mention two NES games, Zelda and Metroid, and considered MegaMan.

I'd throw Twisted Metal out there too, mostly for it's sandbox approach, and having one of the best early vs. modes ever (especially among none FPS).

Many of the younger posters were not around to experience and appreciate the older generation consoles. The thing is games really took a different direction from the lifecycle of the PlayStation to the PS2. Also games were not "popular" or the "in" thing to do when I was in high school where now games are part of high school culture where kids are going to lean towards and favor games that their peers favor and that is going to be AAA mainstream titles. Kid would get laughed at if he was playing Katamari Damacy, or Rez so kid doesn't seek out such games and never learns of them.

I'm 32 and I cut my teeth on the NES.

And though there are some legendary classics that got off the ground on the NES (and SMS too :) ) The 16 bit era really took those gems and polished them and made them the franchises they are today.

example:
The Legend of Zelda
a game that was revolutionary for its time. The sequal, Adventure of Link, changed drastically (as was the norm for sequals at the time) and introduced many different ideas. Then the third installment, which was on the 16-bit hardware, returned to the original frame work and added and refined the game. The thing is that when the next gen of 32-bit and 64-bit hardware came out, all that really happened is that they took the 16-bit games and made them 3D. So my feeling is that Zelda III: Link to the Past was a phenomenal game and that the game many others praise, Ocarnia of Time, is essentially Link to the Past in 3D as in the main enhancement was moving to three dimensional…

Te two games that always make the top of my list are A Link To the Past and The Curse of Monkey Island.

I have seen some great selections in this thread. Phantasy Star (played all of them), Mario Bros 3, Doom (give me Wolfenstein though), Skies of Arcadia, Pokémon, Tetris, Super Punch Out. Some of my personal favorites.

I'd like to give a shout out to: the first two Lunars (SSS and EB), Indiana Jones Atlantis, Baten Kaitos and Metroid Prime. Not getting into SNES RPG's, you could list 30.

San Andreas has to be mentioned here. GTAIII was a breakthru in free roaming, but SA took it to the peak by fleshing it out with so many things to do. You could do the missions, or the side missions, or pimp out your cars, or go get hair cuts, or change your wardrobe, etc. etc.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time still stands up as one of the greatest games of all time, not only because of it being the first Zelda 3D, but because of the immense story. I still think if anyone were to write a novel, this would be where they would start off in the chronological order. The story and characters were fantastic.

Metal Gear Solid 3 also deserves a mention because of the level of detail that went into the game from the different camos, to the easter eggs, to the weapons available. The huge storyline and the fantastic boss fights from the whole series were great. You can play this game, and then turn around and play it again and again.

Final Fantasy 7 is again an epic fantasy that took a futuristic route. The characters founded in this game are still legends to this day. The PSP just released yet another sequel attempt in Crisis Core, there was a movie made about these characters. People just can't seem to get enough of it. Many times they have tried to recapture the villiany that is Sephiroth, or the troubled hero that is Cloud, but every sequel they've made has fallen short of the legend that is FF7.

Lastly, you have to put Doom on this list. Wolftenstein started it all, but Doom took the ball and ran with it, setting the path for games to come. I'll never forget the first time I played the demo in my buddies basement with just dim lighting and the sound turned up, listening to the alien ambiance in the background and having things jump out at you. You can argue that Doom2 was a better game, but it was just a refinement of Doom 1. Then as if the game itself wasn't good enough, you had multiplayer gaming, and the developer sanctioned ability to edit nearly every aspect of the game, creating your own levels and graphics to play against your friends. People are still playing this game online today, at least a decade and a half after it was introduced. You can log onto a server and play Doom style capture the flag, or just go in and kill a bunch of people to see who can get the most skills. They have ranking systems, etc.

I would like to mention Onimusha here though. While it isn't necessarily one of the greatest games of all time, but it was the first game I remember playing where the fighting was so damn fluid. I can remember going into combos and stuff, killing the bad guys and wonder, 'Just how the hell did I do THAT?' Your fingers literally take off faster than your concious effort, because the controls and gameplay are so fluid.

Many of the younger posters were not around to experience and appreciate the older generation consoles. The thing is games really took a different direction from the lifecycle of the PlayStation to the PS2. Also games were not "popular" or the "in" thing to do when I was in high school where now games are part of high school culture where kids are going to lean towards and favor games that their peers favor and that is going to be AAA mainstream titles. Kid would get laughed at if he was playing Katamari Damacy, or Rez so kid doesn't seek out such games and never learns of them.

I'm 32 and I cut my teeth on the NES.

And though there are some legendary classics that got off the ground on the NES (and SMS too :) ) The 16 bit era really took those gems and polished them and made them the franchises they are today.

example:
The Legend of Zelda
a game that was revolutionary for its time. The sequal, Adventure of Link, changed drastically (as was the norm for sequals at the time) and introduced many different ideas. Then the third installment, which was on the 16-bit hardware, returned to the original frame work and added and refined the game. The thing is that when the next gen of 32-bit and 64-bit hardware came out, all that really happened is that they took the 16-bit games and made them 3D. So my feeling is that Zelda III: Link to the Past was a phenomenal game and that the game many others praise, Ocarnia of Time, is essentially Link to the Past in 3D as in the main enhancement was moving to three dimensional…

exactly, im 26 and i grew up on nintendo. now i recognize that atari and even commodore came before me, but the start of the gaming empire that we have today is arguably tetris and pong

tetris wasn't even evented for leisure play either, it was created for astronauts to retain mental ability in outerspace

GTA San Andreas- lived in so cal from age 14-27, so this game touched me a lot. Cali vibe captured perfectly.

Max Payne 2- A tightened, more straightfoward version of the original. New Max seemed more like a real dude, and not some guy acting in the local town theater.

Jade Empire- yeah, this game gets a bit of hate now for some reason, but having experienced an NDE (near death experience), I can relate to it on a whole new level now (love you Scholar Ling, will see you soon, lol)

Honorable mention: NBA2k3- Jordan and Pippen's final really fun game together

Strider is a great call. I loved that game when I was a kid. I may hook up my Nintendo and play it.

I'm surprised that San Andreas is as well recieved as it is. Not that it wasn't great, but so much of it was tedious. The map had huge voids in it that made getting around more annoying than it needed to be. And the eating, working out stuff, seemed to be enough like busy work that it was eliminated in GTA IV. And the damn seashells too. At the time it was great, but in retrospect, I liked the tighter play and map in Vice City.
To each his own.